QUICK ANSWER PLEASE!

[EscapeFrom]

I have told ds (4yrs) I will make fairy cakes with him if he picks his toys in five minutes - and not if they are still there and he has made no reasonable effort.

AIBU?

Set the timer for 5 minutes.

Be clearer about what is a reasonable effort - he will have a different viewpoint on that.

YANBU

YABU - he doesn't know what 5min is. Set a clearer limit, and if it's not too much to pick up in that limit, then YANBU.

Nope.

He does know what 5 minutes is, have set timer.

It's moot now anyway, he says he doesn't want to make fairy cakes.

maybe better to make the fairy cakes, and then say, you can have one if u tidy up?

that's the trouble I think - kids want to NOT pick toys up more than they want most other things, IME.

This is one of the areas where we've got hard nosed with ds, usually DH and I are the most lentilly parents but ds was really taking advantage as regards picking up toys.

So we tell him that he must help (we don't expect him to pick them all up) otherwise what's left on the floor goes in a black bag for the charity shop.

It works. Always.

We all do it together here usually and it's teamwork Dd is always good at tidying up toys and ds1 is getting better. If we all work together and I give ds1 specific instructions ie pick up that toy and put it in the box or tidy those blocks away into that bag then he finds it much easier.

He did it! He picked them all up and he made banana and rasberry cakes with me.

I am getting hard nosed about it - I used to do most of it and just leave him a few, then I tried 'encouragement' and doing it with him, which meant he just rolls around on the floor complaining he is tired regardless of time of day - so I have become Evil Mummy.

Oooh!!!

recipe for banana and rasberry cakes Please!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, recipe please.

Glad it worked

Obviously mamama she is too busy eatign them to giv eus the recipe!

It's really easy.

1/3 cup of butter
1/2 cup of sugar

beat these together, then add

4 mashed bananas
2 cups of flour
1 egg

Then put a frozen rasberry into the bottom of each fairy cake case.
Mix the batter well until quite smooth, and spoon into cake cases, don't over fill these as they will overflow, then top with a frozen rasberry.

Bake on 200C until golden brown

Arf, have had two.

sounds yummy scrummy!

Thanks Escapefrom - they sound delicious.